All government agencies and organizations working to combat human
trafficking will now have access to a national shared database.

The national database, being launched today in Bogotá,
will provide easy access and strengthen all facets of the work to
combat human trafficking – research, prevention, protection
and prosecution.

The Information Registry on Human Trafficking (RITRA by its
Spanish acronym) was developed with IOM's technical expertise and
financial support from the Government of the Netherlands.

RITRA will allow its users to input and share information,
follow ongoing cases and to generate statistics on the prevalence
of human trafficking in Colombia. 

The design of the database is the latest step in IOM's work to
combat human trafficking in Colombia, which includes a toll-free
national hotline (01-8000-52-20-20) that has been providing
objective and up-to-date information to callers 24 hours per day,
seven days per week since 2003.  The hotline has received more
than 25,000 calls, and 232 cases have been forwarded to the police
for investigation and possible prosecution.

The toll-free line is part of the IOM information campaign
"Don't Let Anyone Shatter Your Dreams" (Que Nadie Dañe tus
Sueños).

Colombian women and girls are trafficked from rural to urban
areas and throughout Latin America, the Caribbean, Western Europe,
East Asia, the Middle East and the United States.

For further information, please contact:

Jorge Andres Gallo

IOM Bogota

Tel: +57.1.594.6410 Ext. 142

E-mail: "mailto:jgallo@iom.int">jgallo@iom.int